When we first moved into our house the neighbor came over with his daughter. “She has two conversations, dog and horse” he said of his then 7 year old. The Legend of Longwood is the film that she would’ve loved at that age and still would like at her current age of 12. It’s the story of a 12 year old girl that moves from New York to Ireland, love horses and fights to save a herd of them from a scheming adult who is not marrying for love.
Really, that is the plot; all I need to do is throw in a litter of kittens stuck in a tree to enhance the plot for its demographic. But The Legend of Longwood is really quite cute for the age and audience that it is intended.
Mickey’s family has to move to Ireland. Once she’s there she meets a mysterious woman who tells her something cryptic, and then dies the next day. That leads to the Black Knight, who, legend says, patrols the woods, most likely to scare villagers.
Mickey isn’t put off by the legend or her shy new friends because she’s discovered a herd of white horses that are in danger. Can Mickey save the herd of horses, make her mother stay in Ireland, find the Black Knight and solve the mysteries that have been happing in the small town?
The Legend of Longwood is a sister tale to Nancy Drew. This is a film that will solidly entertain girls 12 and under. I described the plot to a 10 and 12 year old. “OMG, that’s my story, I love that movie”, she said. “That sounds corny”, said her 14 year old sister.
That is the age difference where The Legend of Longwood won’t work. Adults will watch it and enjoy the fact that their tween and young children are enjoying the film. That age group will watch The Legend of Longwood, pretend they’re Mickey, love the horse riding, beautiful scenery and dislike the bully and school pretty/snotty girl.
The Legend of Longwood has just enough spooky to keep them intrigued without being too scary. It’s a film that they’ll watch once and enjoy, while the girls 7-11 will want to watch it again.
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